Sunday, June 3, 2012

Summer School 2012

Usually by this time of the year we've put up the school books in favor of more relaxation and the summer routine. This year, however, we are forging on having been held up more than normal for things like preparing our home to sell, keeping our home show ready, and being out for showings, home inspection and all that- not to mention the house hunting for our new home.

So, although we enter the summer season still busy and now preparing to move, we are going to have a steady diet of some structured school activities. I plan to keep these items handy and easily set aside during the move so we can land here on something familiar now and then.

What's in store?

We finally started the long suggested series Swallow & Amazons and we are hooked! We have the next two books in the series to enjoy when this one is finished. I see this one coming out at campfire time, lights out and let's settle down in the tent time, and relaxing on our new back porch time!

We are about half way through MOH Volume 1 so I'm taking the time to read from this daily. We may pick up some notebooking pages for narration, but we'll see how this goes.
Math- we'll be continuing on with our math studies as normal with Fred and living math. But first, two days of IOWA Testing are in order this week for the oldest three children.

We'll be doing some science through Nature Study this summer- always a hit while camping. I bring art projects as well for rainy afternoons (or mornings) as well. You can teach a lot of biology through nature study.
We'll be using Barb's (from OHC) Summer Sizzle study. One of our favorite camping spots has giant cottonwoods and she has a study on those in this ebook. 
The 4H County Fair is about a week and a half after we move so we'll be working on polishing up entries over the next few weeks. I'll make sure they are packed separately so we can get to them by fair time!

E13 has been working through the One Year Adventure Novel and having such a good time. He'll be continuing on with that this summer. 
Reading and more reading is also on the agenda! We'll be coming up with a book goal for the kids. My kids read a ton, but sometimes get stuck in a repetitive rut not reading new material but enjoying old favorites...all good stuff, but I'm going to challenge them nonetheless.

It's shaping up to be a busy season full of family adventure including birthdays, packing, camping, moving, and more camping with a trip to Dallas for me thrown in there. But we'll also be spending time together reading and pouring into the kids' passions. More on that another time.

What are your plans for summer school this year?

5 comments:

Kori said...

This is off topic! I have some friends who have never homeschooled before, they are moving to NY for a year (Rochester) and plan to homeschool there. Any advice I should give them on getting started there (other than HSLDA for the legal requirements)?

Heather said...

If you email me Kori, I can give you a document I have on the reporting for NY. That is really the trickiest part and easy to explain.

I don't know a lot about how things are in the Rochester area. Where I am is very homeschool friendly.

Heather

dstb said...

We LOVE Swallows and Amazons. We read aloud the entire series. I think of the next couple on the list - Swallowdale, Peter Duck, and Winter Holiday - Winter Holiday may have been the next favorite.

I am so glad you are enjoying the S&A. We loved it and the quote "Better drowned than duffers...." has come up on more than one occasion.

Good luck with the move and have a great summer!

Sarah

My Blessings From Above said...

We are planning on schooling through the summer. The boys get bored when we stop school! lol!
We too are starting Swallows and Amazons this week!
We are also going to work on Bible verse memorization over the summer!

Anonymous said...

We are doing our normal curriculum and taking breaks to review various things for the Schoolhouse Review Crew. We also are particpating in LOTS of reading programs. :)
Tiffany
http://thecraftyhome.net